The blind men and the filament: Understanding structures and functions of microbial nanowires
Yalcin SE, Malvankar NS. The blind men and the filament: Understanding structures and functions of microbial nanowires. Current Opinion In Chemical Biology 2020, 59: 193-201. PMID: 33070100, PMCID: PMC7736336, DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.08.004.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsMicrobial nanowiresExtracellular electron transferDifferent nanowiresNanowiresPotential applicationsCryo-electron microscopyTransport electronsMultimodal functional imagingElectron transferBioelectronicsImportant environmental processesRecent discoveryPhysiological studiesOMCApplicationsMicroscopyBiofuelsSensingPhysiological needsMicrometersCrucial roleUnderstanding structureDirect evidenceThousands of papersEnergy productionElectric field stimulates production of highly conductive microbial OmcZ nanowires
Yalcin SE, O’Brien J, Gu Y, Reiss K, Yi SM, Jain R, Srikanth V, Dahl PJ, Huynh W, Vu D, Acharya A, Chaudhuri S, Varga T, Batista VS, Malvankar NS. Electric field stimulates production of highly conductive microbial OmcZ nanowires. Nature Chemical Biology 2020, 16: 1136-1142. PMID: 32807967, PMCID: PMC7502555, DOI: 10.1038/s41589-020-0623-9.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsConductive protein nanowiresIndividual nanowiresProtein nanowiresElectronic functionalityNanowiresElectric fieldGeobacter sulfurreducens biofilmsHigh conductivityMost natural materialsHigh stiffnessElectrical signalsBidirectional interfaceElectronic systemsLiving materialsNatural materialsΠ stackingSpectroscopic studiesEnergy productionNanospectroscopyConductivityStiffnessConformational switchingΒ-sheetHeme groupSensing